Refrigerator cabinet



Aus- 4, 1942.r L. w. ATCHISON 2,292,032

REFRIGERATOR CABINET Filed July l. 1941 Figi.

Toi .2.

Inventor:

Leonard W. Atchison,

rls Attorney.

Patented Aug. 4, 1942 J 2,292,032 nEFmGEaa'roa CABINET Leonard W. Atchison, Schenectady. N. Y., assigner to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application July 1, 1941, Serial No. 400,589 3 Claims. (Cl. 6289) My invention relates to refrigerator. cabinets and more particularly to refrigerator cabinets of the domestic type.

It has been proposed to provide refrigerator cabinets of the domestic type with evaporators or cooling units which extend substantially the full width of the cabinet and which are located in the upper portion of the food storage compartment of the cabinet in order to provide a large volume of frozen food storage and also adequate provision for the freezing of water, frozen desserts, and the like. One of the dimculties accompanying this type of construction is that when the evaporator is run at a low enough temperature to provide a good cold ox' freezing compartment for such purposes, there is too great a cooling eect in the main food storage compartment and sweating or dripping from the under side of the evaporator and the evaporator door member, which may be utilized on the front end of the evaporator, is encountered under conditions ofr high humidity.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to provide a refrigerator cabinet with an evaporator of the above-mentioned type provided with means for regulating the exchange of cold air between the upper and lower portions of the cabinet.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a refrigerator cabinet having an evaporator of the above-described type which lis provided with means for minimizing the condensation and collection of moisture on exposed under surfaces thereof and dripping thereof into the lower portion of the food storage compartment. y

Further objects and advantages of my inven- "change relation with will be directed rearwardly below the lower'member il and then upwardly and forwardly between the members i3 and Il to the front of the compartment. The air then passesy into heat exthe evaporator, is cooled, and then drops down through a space or passageway at the rear of the cabinet, replacing the warm air which risesV at the front.

The walls of-therefrigeratorcabinet comprise an innerv metallic sheet-metal liner I6 and an outer sheet-metal casing I1, suitable thermal insulating materialil being disposed in the space therebetween. In orderto minimize the conduction of heat between the inner and* outer liners at the edges thereof, the space therebetween is closed by a breaker stripis preferably formed of a thermally resistant material which is also non-hygroscopic in character and which, for example, may be formed from one of the resinous materials known to thetrade under the trade names, Textolite' Bakelite," etc.

In order to obtain access to the food storage compartment, there is provided an opening 20,

a suitably heat-insulated door 2| being provided for closingthe opening. As stated above, a refrigerant evaporator I2 is disposed in the upper portion of thefood tion will become apparent as the following deg scriptlon proceeds and the features Ioi', novelty which characterize my invention will be pointefkl i out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.v

For a better understanding of 4my invention, reference may be had to the accom drawing in winch Fig. 1 is a side elevation,part1y broken away, of a refrigerator cabinet embodying the principles of my invention; and Fig. 2 is a front partial view of the refrigerator cabinet of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, Ivhave provided a refrigerator cabinet Il of the domestic .type having suitable heat-insulated walls defining a food storage compartment Il, a suitable refrigerant evaporator I2 being disposed in the upper portion thereof. Below and adjacent the evaporator I have provided a pair of spaced-apart baille storage compartment i I and, as best seen in Fig.

2, is substantially co-extensive with the full width of the storage compartment i i. If desired,

the evaporator may extend thefull width o'f the compartment but I prefer to provide passages 22 von either side thereof for the circulation of the box air. Inasmuch as the remaining portions of the refrigerant circuit play no part in my present invention, it has ployed to withdraw gaseous refrigerant from the evaporator, compress the same, cool and liquefy the compressed refrigerant and return the liquid refrigerant to the evaporator, wherethe refrigerant will absorb heat from the food storage compartment and again be. vaporized. There is provided a door 24 for closing the open front end of the evaporator. The door 24 is hingedly supported in any suitable manner, as adjacent the front edge of baille member Il. The upper edge beenthought unnecessary to illustrate a complete refrigerant circuit. Any suitable refrigerating apparatus may be em' portion of the food storage compartment into` the, main food storage compartment. As best seen i.i Fig. 1, the baille means comprises the pair of vertically spaced-apart substantially horizontal baiie members I3 and I4, preferably formed from sheet metal and suitably supported below the evaporator I2. In the form of my in-` vention shown in the drawing, the upper inember extends, in the lateral direction, the full I..

width of the cabinet and rearwardly from a. point immediately below the evaporator door, therear edge 'thereof being provided with a downwardly extending portionv 25a, the free end thereof being spaced from the rear wall 26 of the storage compartment II in order to provide an air passage 21 between the upper and lower rportions of the cabinet. Inasmuchfas the front edge of the evaporator is spaced inwardly from the'door 2l, there is provided an air passage 28 extending upwardly between the door of the food storage compartment and the evaporator door 24. The lower baffle member I3 also extends the full width of the cabinet in the lateral direction and extends rearwardly from immediately adjacent the compartment door to a point spaced forwardly from the end of the downwardly extending portion 25a of the upper baffle element, providing an air passage therebetween. In order to seal the space between the front edge of the lower member I3 and the door 2|, I have provided a gasket 3D suitably secured to the front edge of the lower member I3 and bearing against the inner surface of the door 2l when the door is closed, thereby preventing air leaking up the surface of thedoor. The members I3 and I4 may be sealed at the sides thereof in any sui/ti able manner as by gaskets, or-by providing the members with anges secured, as by welding, to the side walls of the compartment II.

Inspection of Fig. 1 will show that the air cooled by thermal association with the evapor rator I2 will descend along the rear wall 26 of the compartment through the passage 21, displacing the lighter and warmer air in the compartment II,l the warmer air, therefore, rising in the forward portion of the food storage compartment until it strikes the under surface of member I3. The warm air will then iiow rearwardly along the under surface of the member I3 and then upwardly through the passage between the member I3 and portion 25a of the upper member I4 and then forwardly between the baffle members into the vertically ascending passage 2B, upwardly across the evaporator door 24, over the top thereof and then generally downwardly in thermal relationship with the evaporator I2. As already described, this movement of air will, under normal conditions of operation, raise the temperature of the member I3 suiciently high to avoid the formation of moisture thereon1 in other words, the temperature of the member I3 will be raised above the dew point.

The flow controlling member or damper I5 for regulating the amount of cold air flow may be secured to close the passage `2'I nvany suitable manner. I haveillustrated the damper as being pivotally connected to the free end of the portion 25a of the upper member as indicated by the numeral 3i. The control member I5 may be either manually or thermostatically operated. When the control member isin position to close passage 21, the baie member I4, door 24, the side and rear walls of the storage compartment and member I5 provide a cold air trap which tends to prevent the circulation of cold air.

Inasmuch as an evaporator for the aforementioned purposes is intended to operate at a relatively low temperature, and because of its size, a relatively large cold area will be exposed to relatively warm air, a certain amount of condensation of the moisture entrained with the air may take place on the surfaces of the evaporator and the door 24 as wellr as on the surfaces of the upper member I4. In order to catch any such drip water which may accumulate from these sources, I have provided means for collecting such water. The lower member is provided with means for catching moisture collecting on the outside of the door 24, the lower side of member I4 and portions of the compartment walls. As

illustrated, the member I3 is dished, as indicated'A by the numeral 32 and slightly tilted to one side or otherwise arranged so that the moisture accumulating in the baille proper can be drawn' oi by means of a conduit 33 into a drain channel 34 from which the moisture may be withdrawn from the cabinet through a conduit 35. Any moisture falling on the upper surface of the upper member I4 and compartment side walls will be directed rearwardly and then downwardly along the rear wall of the compartment or across width of the storage compartment and may be provided with air passages or openings therethrough adjacent opposite edges thereof. I therefore .aim in the appended claims, to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit of my'invention.

WhatI claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. In a refrigerator cabinet having a food storage compartment, an access opening to said compartment and a doorl member for closing said opening, an evaporator of the type having an opening in the front wall thereof and a door for closing said opening, said evaporator also being adapted to be operated at a relatively low temperature for cold storage and the like and also being disposed in the upper portion of said compartment and extending substantially the full width thereof but being spaced from said compartment door and the rear wall of said compartment, the top of said evaporator door being spaced from the top wall of said compartment, a pair of vertically spaced-apart, substantially horizontal, baille members amacent and below said evaporator, the upper member extending lateraly the full width of said compartment and rearwardly from said evaporator door, the rear edge portion thereof being provided with a downwardly extending portion spaced from said rear wall, the lower member extending laterally Athe full width of the compartment and rearwardly from immediately adjacent the compartment door, the rear edge thereof being disposed forwardly of said downwardly extending portion, whereby warm air rising along the compartment door will be directed rearwardly by the lower member, upwardly and forwardly between the members, upwardly between the compartment door and the evaporator door, over the'top of said evaporator door and rearwardly and downw-ardly across said evaporator in thermal association therewith, the cooled air descending downward through the space between the downwardly directed portion and the rear wall of said storage compartment.

2. In a refrigerator cabinet having a focd storage compartment, an access opening to said cornpartment and a door member for closing said opening, an evaporator of the type having an opening in the front wall thereof and a door for closing said opening, said evaporator also being adapted to be operated at a relatively low temperature for cold storage and the like, and also being disposed in the upper portion of said compartment and extending substantially the full width thereof but spaced from said compartment door and the rear wall of said compartment, said compartment door, said evaporator door and the side walls of the compartment providing a first vertically disposed air passage, the top of said evaporator door being spaced from the tcp wall of said compartment for providing a second air passage, a pair of vertically spaced-apart, substantially horizontal, baille members adjacent and below said evaporator, the upper member extending laterally the 'full width of said compartment and rearwardly from said evaporator door, the rear edge portion thereof being provided with a downwardly extending portion spaced from said rear wall to provide a third air passage, the lower member extending laterally the full width of the compartment and rearwardly from immediately adjacent the compartment door, the rear edge thereof being disposed forwardly of said downwardly extending portion, whereby warm air rising along-the compartment door will be directed rearwardly by the lower member. upwardly and forwardly between the members, upwardly through said rst air passage, over the top of said evaporator door and across said evaporator in thermal association therewith, the cooled air descending downwardly through said thirdpassage into the lower portion of said compartment at the rear thereof, and means associated with said third passage for regulating the amount of cooled air flowing through said third passage and hence the temperature of said food storage compartment.

3. In a refrigerator cabinet having a food storage compartment, an access opening to said compartment and a door member for closing said opening, an evaporator of the type having an opening in the front Wall thereof and a door for closing said opening, said evaporator also being adapted to be operated at' a relatively low temperature for cold storage and the like, said evaporator also being disposed in the upper portion of said compartment and Vextending substantially the full width thereof but spaced from said compartment door and the rear wall of said compartment, said compartment door, said evaporator door and the side walls of the compartment providing a first vertically disposed air passage, the top of said evaporator door being spaced from the top wall of said compartment for providing a second air passage, a pair of vertically spaced-apart, substantially horizontal, baille members adjacent and below said evaporator, the upper member extendinglaterally the full width of saidcompartment and rearwardly from said evaporator door, the rear edge portion thereof being provided with a downwardly extending portion spaced from said rear wall to provide a third forwardly of said downwardly extending portion,

whereby warm air rising along -the compartment door is directed rearwardly by the lower member, upwardly and forwardly between the members, upwardly through said first air passage, over the top of said evaporator door and across said evaporator in thermal association therewith, the cooled air descending downwardly through said third passage into said compartment at the rear thereof, and means associated with said lower member `for collecting any moisture which may be condensed out of the circulating air and deposited above said lower element.

Y LEONARD WIV. ATCHISON. 

